everybody's where they need to be, but nobody's where you need them...

Leaving Bushwick late last night,

I made my way past families and their friends and their kids and their families;

enjoying their final moments of humid evening

out on their stoops

under telephone lines and dangling sneakers.

I see a young boy a couple yards in front of me

holding onto a tree for dear life.

I notice that he is wearing roller skates;

and completely baffled

by how they are supposed to work

how is he seriously supposed to move or roll or skate?

he cautiously and semi-frantically looks over his shoulder

to his friends

seeking support.

After no acknowledgement, he calls out,

"A LITTLE HELP WOULD BE NICE!"

By this point I am basically in front of him. 

We make eye contact.

No one responds.

A little farther now, I turn back around empathetically.

"Make them tighter!" I yell.

He stops moving. 

Eyes me suspiciously,

"Tighter?"

I half smile and nod.

He nods back, "Tighter."

[Dust under the rug.]